The Most Beautiful Flower
by Liesel Meminger
Summary: It's spring, and Minerva is in her office instead of out in the gardens in between her beloved flowers. I can't say much without giving the story away. One-shot, MMAD.


**FanFic 100 Prompt Challenge – 062 – Spring **

The wind made its way through the windows of Minerva's office, bathing the room with the scent of the spring flowers. Not many people knew that, but Minerva loved spring, maybe as much as she loved the winter. The bright colored sights which were common during spring appealed to her with the same intensity the dull gray surroundings of the winter did.

Minerva sighed and looked around, taking in her neatly organized desk covered by parchments sorted by House and year. There was always marking to be done, papers to correct, lessons plans to prepare. They offered her an acceptable excuse when one was necessary, but, real as they were, they also provided her with loads of work to do and forbade her from any time for herself during the school year. But she had chosen this life for herself, and she had always known about the sacrifices that came along with it. Everything in life comes with sacrifices, she had been taught that, and, when the time came, she was more than ready to make those.

A wind blow reminded her that she was still standing in the middle of her office while she needed to be sat at her desk correcting third year's essays. Half her mind was made up to go out in the gardens and pick up some flowers to decorate her room. It may seem silly, but she loved flowers, and, as a child, she used to go out to the family gardens everyday, and, against her mother's advice, spend the day helping the house elves to take care of the flowers. And, oh, Hogwarts had such lovely gardens that Minerva felt she needed to spend some time there, especially today, the first day of spring, when the flowers were still new and fresh. Besides, she was exhausted and could use a little break before starting to correct papers. "Oh, no", she remembered, the bloody papers won't correct themselves. She was supposed to give these back to the students in two days, and she was running a little behind schedule, which meant she couldn't afford a distraction now. Maybe if she went on her cat form she could come back faster… "No, Minerva, no. Focus: essays first, flowers second".

Sighing regretfully, she sat down at her desk; quill in hand, red ink pot open, and a Gryffindor third year homework in front of her. Just as she began to read the first line, a phoenix feather appeared in the air in front of her. That meant Albus wanted to talk to her. Oh, a distraction. Maybe on her way back from Albus' office she could pay the gardens a little visit, since she was out of her rooms anyway. She took Fawkes' feather with her and made her way to the Headmaster's office. Reaching the stone gargoyle, she whispered the password and stepped onto the spiral staircase. She knocked to let him know she was coming and opened the door without waiting for his answer, as she had always done. But this time he wasn't sitting on his chair behind the desk. Curious, Minerva closed the door behind her and stepped in further into his office. Seeing Fawkes sleeping on his pole, she tiptoed to his side and placed the feather gently beside him, whispering a quiet, 'there you go, Fawkes'. Turning her gaze back to the empty desk, she wondered where the hell Albus could possibly be now. 'Old fool' she thought, 'calling me up here when I'm incredibly busy, and then vanishing into thin air'. Then she noticed the bouquet of blue roses on top of his desk, a note attached to it. She picked up the bouquet and smelled the wonderful scent of the flowers she had been longing to see. The note, which she had momentarily forgotten about, slipped to the floor and Minerva bent down to pick it up. It read:

_My dear Minerva,_

_Simple roses to the most beautiful of the flowers of spring_

_Yours truly,_

_Albus_

She smiled. Old fool or not, that man was always able to make her insides melt.

x

A.N.: Just something simple I wrote during Portuguese class this morning. Please, tell me what you think about it. Too short?


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